The Cell Biology Core for this program project was established to centralize and coordinate the use of techniques and instrumentation commonly employed by the PPG investigators. The Core is located within the common laboratory space of the three investigators. A full time Core Technical Director with excellent background in gastroenterology, and with technical expertise in histology, immunohistochemistry, imaging and mouse dissection will continue to serve the Core Director for the next project period. Since flow cytometry is now integral to all projects, we have added a Flow Core to our basic Cell Biology Services. Additionally, as part of centralized Core services, the Merchant lab will perform all procedures involving Helicobacter species. Finally, the Core will track mouse lines used and insure that a single maintenance stock of each line is maintained by one laboratory, so as to avoid duplication and reduce expense. The combined Cell Biology Core will thus consist of: an Embedding/lmmunohistochemical Substation for paraffin or OTC embedding, sectioning, staining and immunostaining; a Microscopy Substation for image capture, image analysis, and assistance with Laser Capture Microdissection; an RNA and Q-RT-PCR Substation for assistance with tissue collection, RNA preparation and Q-RT-PCR analysis; a Bioinformatics Substation for microarray and RNAseq analysis, pathway finding and transcription factor binding predictions; a Bacterial Infection Substation for assistance with Helicobacter, Citrobacter and Salmonella infections; a Flow Cytometry Substation and a Mouse Inventory Substation. All procedures and instruments will be regularly monitored for quality control. The Cell Biology Core Director and Flow Manager will meet monthy with the three Principal Investigators to report progress and problems and set future priorities. The Specific Aims of the Cell Biology Core are: 1) To provide high quality service to the investigators in a rapid and efficient manner; 2) To provide technical support and equipment to the investigators with a commitment to teaching techniques and standardizing protocols; 3)To provide some of the common reagents necessary to perform these procedures 4) To coordinate the care and maintenance of mouse lines used by the investigators. RELEVANCE (See instructions); The centralization of services and techniques for the PPG increases efficiency, reduces cost and improves reproducibility. Since all three investigators share techniques, instruments and mouse lines, a major benefit of the Cell Biology Core is that it serves to standardize protocols, ensure quality control of instrumentation and avoid duplicated mouse costs, thus ensuring standardization of data and increasing synergy among the three laboratores.